Tag: Saekano

Saekano the Movie: Finale Review

Saekano the Movie: Finale Review

Saekano the Movie: Finale anime cover art
Saekano the Movie: Finale

Thrown Into the Deep End

Saekano the Movie: Finale (Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata Fine / 冴えない彼女の育てかた Fine) concludes the Saekano series. The movie came out back in 2019, and I put off watching it until now. Why? Because I don’t like watching movies.

But, putting this movie off for so long may not have been the best idea. Obviously, it means I was missing out on this great content for four years. But, it also means that I didn’t remember much from the main series. I watched the second season of Saekano back in 2018, after all.

If I had watched this movie when it came out, maybe I would have been less confused. But, as things stand, I had no idea what was going on at the start of this movie. I didn’t remember Eriri and Utaha had left the circle and I didn’t remember Akane Kousaka at all.

Megumi on a video call with Tomoya from the anime Saekano the Movie: Finale
Megumi on a video call with Tomoya

But, the movie assumes you remember that stuff and more. It doesn’t try to recap anything with brief flashbacks or dialogue. You’re thrown straight into the deep end. Even after finishing the movie, I’m still not sure where Akane Kousaka came from.

Anyway, as I said, Eriri and Utaha left Tomoya’s circle to work at a larger circle (I don’t think it’s a company). This movie is about those left working to complete their game before Winter Comiket. That means Tomoya, Megumi, Izumi, Michiru, and Iori (whom I had no recollection of).

Tomoya becomes the lead scriptwriter after Utaha leaves the circle. And, Izumi becomes the lead artist and character designer after Eriri’s departure. Michiru is still doing the music, Iori is doing the marketing, and Megumi is being herself. Though, throughout the movie, Megumi takes on more of a project manager role.

It Should Have Been Me, Not Him!

Considering the Saekano anime ended back in 2019, I don’t really write about it much. So, something you may not be aware of is that Megumi Katou is my “waifu.” She’s perfect in every way and it should have been me she ended up with, not Tomoya.

Now, for a lot of people, the concept of a “waifu” is pretty cringe. And, for the most part, I agree. But, I have to acknowledge that it’s a real thing. I like a lot of anime girls; there are many cute ones out there. However, a waifu goes beyond liking the character.

I didn’t get it until I watched Saekano. But, once I was introduced to Megumi, everything made sense. I still can’t explain it well other than to say you’ll know your waifu when you see her. The neurons in my brain activate when I see Megumi.

Megumi and Tomoya from the anime Saekano the Movie: Finale
Megumi and Tomoya

Well, that’s not entirely accurate. It’s not like just seeing a picture of her is enough. It’s seeing her interact with the other characters in the series. Everything about the way she acts draws me to her, whether she’s happy, sad, or emotionless.

So, why am I bringing this up? Because I want to highlight what Saekano does best. From the outside, it looks like a generic comedy harem anime. But, the characters, especially Megumi, are so well-written that they suck you in. There’s a lot more depth to them than you’d expect.

Even after I watched the first season, I thought it was good, but not great. However, the second season changed my mind. And this movie is somehow even better. We got to see more sides of the main characters, which made them feel more real. It’s kind of the perfect ending to the series.

The Perfect Ending

Okay, so the movie is a perfect ending to the series. But, the movie itself also had a perfect ending. It was satisfying, yet not satisfying. It wrapped everything up, yet left it open. And, much like the start of the movie, it was meta.

As a Megumi super-fan, the ending was satisfying because I got to see my favorite girl happy. And, the fact that there was a definitive “winner” is in itself satisfying. But, at the same time, I felt bad for those who lost out, especially Eriri.

Eriri having to give up on her dream of being with Tomoya was heartbreaking. And, that’s how I know it was written well. It hurt me to see that Eriri couldn’t also be happy in the end. Even though I’m solidly team Megumi, I still want to root for all the girls.

Megumi and Eriri taking a bath together from the anime Saekano the Movie: Finale
Megumi and Eriri taking a bath together

The other thing that Megumi winning did was begin the process of wrapping everything up. Once she and Tomoya were official, it meant the other characters could come to terms with that. They could move on with their lives. And, this is what we see. Eriri and Utaha move on and continue honing their crafts.

However, the whole original team comes back together at the very end of the movie. Now, instead of being a circle, they’re an official company. They got their experience working elsewhere. And now, they’re back to making games they love together.

But, before we get to that true ending, there’s a false ending. And, I’ll admit, it tricked me. In the false ending, Megumi breaks up with Tomoya and he reconnects with Utaha. Luckily, it’s revealed that this was actually Utaha’s new script. I almost had to rate this movie a 0/10 for breaking Megumi’s heart.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Saekano the Movie: Finale is a 9/10. It was a bit long. Though, despite being 4 minutes longer than K-ON! the Movie, it didn’t feel nearly as long as that one. And, I would have liked a little bit of recap via dialogue. But, other than those two complaints, it was perfect.

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Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about supporting this blog, check out DoubleSama.com/support.

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Saekano

Saekano

Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend anime series cover art
Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend

Overview

I just watched the second season of Saekano yesterday, so that’s what we’re going to be looking at today. The first season, however, I originally watched maybe 6-12 months ago; I don’t remember how long ago exactly.

The general plot of this anime is that the characters are all part of a school club through which they are creating a dating simulation video game (but without all the twists that Doki Doki Literature Club had). There’s a programmer, a writer, an artist, a musician, and of course, a model for the main heroine of the game.

While in the first season, there is extensive work done on the game the characters are making, the main focus is on collecting all the right people for the job. If I remember correctly, the final character is introduced with only one or two episodes left in the season.

The second season is where the series really hits its stride. All of the main characters have been fully introduced at this point and the focus shifts from introducing them to the interactions between them; not that this wasn’t in the first season at all. The second season also sees the completion of the game the characters have been working on for the past six months.

Besides the two seasons, there are also two bonus episodes; one for each season. These bonus episodes, however, are simply fan service episodes and add nothing to the plot or character development whatsoever. The first is a trip to a hot springs hotel and the second is a trip to a hotel pool.

Characters

Tomoya Aki is the protagonist of the series. He’s an Otaku who is obsessed with manga, anime, light novels, and dating sim games. Creating the game the rest of the characters are working on was his idea and he was the one who brought all of the other characters together to form the club.

As the leader of the club and the one who came up with the idea to make the game, Tomoya serves as both the director/producer of the game as well as the programmer.

Eriri Spencer Sawamura is the artist for the game. She’s Tomoya’s childhood friend who secretly works as an adult manga artist. Eriri is the classic tsundere-type character, complete with blond twin tails for added effect.

Utaha Kasumigaoka is the author of the script for the game being made. She is already a professional author who has released several light novels but puts her work as an author on hold so she can help write for the game. Her character type is the older student who serves as a romantic rival for Eriri by using her looks.

Michiru Hyodo is Tomoya’s cousin who is part of a school band. She is convinced to write the music for the game although she does not have anything to do with the Otaku world and finds it weird. Eriri dislikes Michiru because Michiru has known Tomoya for longer, and Eriri’s whole identity is “the childhood friend.”

While not actually a member of the team creating the game (yet), one other character is Izumi Hashima. She serves as a rival to Eriri as well because she is also a childhood friend of Tomoya’s, although from not as far back. She is also an artist who wants to compete with Eriri. Izumi’s character type is the little sister even though she isn’t actually related to Tomoya.

Finally, I saved the best for last, we have Megumi Kato. Megumi (you can tell she’s the best character by her name) is the model for the main heroine of the game being created. She also serves as the assistant producer for the game since there isn’t really anything else she can do to help.

Even though Megumi is the model for the main heroine, she has a distinct lack of both personality and presence, which is the opposite of what is needed for the main heroine. The job of the rest of the team is to sculpt Megumi into the character needed for the game.

Unlike the rest of the characters in the series, Megumi doesn’t follow a standard character trope. However, this actually works to her advantage as she’s the best character in the whole show. Who knew that by not turning a female character into an easily replicable trope, you could actually make a good, realistic, character?

While the rest of the characters have some trait that serves as their main source of appeal, Megumi’s lack of this defining trait is actually what makes her so appealing. She just acts like a regular person instead of a character.

I’m also a fan of her usual lack of enthusiasm and flat responses because they contrast well with the few times she actually shows emotion.

Megumi Katou from the anime series Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend
Megumi Katou

Conclusion

After watching the first season, I had rated it a 7, and even after watching both specials, I rated those as 7s too. However, the second season did such a good job of building on what came before it that I ended up giving it a 9/10 and this is the rating I’m going to give the series as a whole.

The characters continue to be built upon and become more complex as the series goes on and their interactions with each other become a central focus of the series. While there is a plot going throughout the whole series, it almost becomes like a good slice of life in which the plot isn’t necessary simply because the characters and their interactions are so well written.

The ending of season two included a setup for a third season and I’m very much looking forward to that. I’m not expecting the third season to become a 10, but I have high expectations for it and would be surprised if it’s below an 8.

The review of Saekano the Movie: Finale is available now.